Celebrity Homes

George Meyrick

Home is Winchester, but my mother always had a house here in Chelsea – at 5 Egerton Place – so we spent a lot of time in London. It was a red-brick, four-bedroom flat, split over two levels and had lovely high ceilings. There was a communal garden at the back where I used to play with my brothers.

Alice Whitby

Egerton Place

You don’t realise how lucky you are when you’re young and you live in such a nice area but when the time comes to buying your own property you suddenly find yourself priced out of where you were all along. There was always a lovely village-feel to Chelsea, the streets are quite quiet for London and you would get to know people on your street or people who work around there. Even the traffic warden would say hello.

Things have changed a little – there are definitely more supercars around than there were when we were growing up. But it’s still a very friendly place with a real sense of community.

In 2010, I brought a property in Tennyson Street in Battersea with my two brothers as an investment. It hasn’t made us millions yet, but we’re hopeful.

I travel a lot for work so I’m away for around six months of the year during winter. It’s then that I really miss the buzz and the culture of London. In the past year alone I have played polo in Dubai, China, India and Pakistan, South Africa and Australia.

When you’re away you realise that there is nowhere like London, it feels like you’re in the centre of everything here. I prefer playing in England to abroad. I grew up watching polo here so that’s probably why. I love that you get to see the Queen at Guards or can soak up all the history at Cowdray Park.

I now rent in Chiswick with my girlfriend. It’s a bit of a compromise as I need to be able to get out of London to Winchester, where my horses are, and she needs to get to work in London. We used to live in Winchester and she commuted, but now it’s my turn.

We haven’t been here long – around a month – but I’m really enjoying life in Chiswick. There are lots of pretty streets and nice health food shops and some great local pubs – I saw David Cameron in one recently.

Injuries are a part of the game. It’s rare to find a polo player who hasn’t broken his collarbone. I haven’t, but I did tear the posterior cruciate ligament in my knee in South Africa this year which was painful. Our training and diet is quite strict, as it is at the top level for any sport, but we do get a fair bit of downtime, which is vital.

I don’t like the idea that polo is considered to be an elitest sport. People have this idea that you need to own land and have a helicopter, but it is much more accessible than people think. For example the Polo in the Park is cheaper than any football or rugby match and it’s such a great day. You don’t even need a horse to take lessons. There are plenty of smaller clubs just outside of London where you can train for less than the price of a personal trainer in the city.

Polo horses can be expensive, but they are nothing compared to racehorses and showjumpers, which is good because we need so many – around seven per game for each player. I have 15 horses altogether, who all need schooling every day – it’s a big job.